Best we agree to disagree :D

What batteries have you got?:D

My sponsor's Team Almighty :D
You can buy the same cells that i use too, not just selected for the team drivers :)

there way to expensive m8 :p :D

£56 for factory team ones and BUILT :O not bad if you ask me :P

No, that is good, I bought some nosram 3700 Factory team for £50, and they cost a fiver to be built up. Does anyone know if team scream cells are any good?:confused:

They are the same as anyone elses, local guy, well 15 miles from me. They actualy come from the States and he distributes.

i bought multiple packs from team almighty and he threw in free assembly. nice bloke.

i generally run with matched cells to get the life out of them. but i also had a £60 set of peak worlds and one cell dropped out after about 3 charges. not happy!
i wouldn't recommend buying random loose cells unless you are a beginner club racer. But i can see Steve point from the local matchers and it sounds like a good idea.

as i said ian too expensive m8:p

I do appreciate the points being made, but I just had a look at my loose cells, which I put into packs myself, and with the 'randomness' ot the cells, each pack is within 5 seconds runtime and 0.002v AV, what I have been trying to say, if you buy enough (I had 30 loose cells) that is enough to get a pretty good match (as good as you would probably get from club grade cells).

Like I said before, make sure they got labels on, so you can at least get 'similar' cells together, unlabled single packs.... run away with your arms in the air shouting AAAAAAAAAARRRRGGGGGHHHHHHHHH

Must agree with DCM here if you are not sponsored and you can get a bargain go for it if the cells are close to each other on the printed readout and you can solder the packs together yourself and discharge them after every run they should be ok. I run three packs of cells all year in both 2wd and 4wd and never had a problem oh and snoring cars in winter. I can never understand why people have 15 to 20 packs of cells, I would just get confused which where charged.:D

More confusion here too, i have 4200 cells..dont discharge, dont balance, dont charge more than 3 times a day(it sais so in the manual!!)...sometimes i take to the track on a wing and a prayer. when that charger sais 700mah, i shit myself. So far, everthing has been ok, but my battery management skills are minimal. I just want to race!!

Bought from losipartshouse.com (sorry Jimmy, dont mean to advertise)...£ arounnd 30 quid and the Customs/VAT man didnt notice it comming in...lovely!!!

Ta
Stu

IB42's

EQUALISE
Charge at 6A (linear not stepped)
Use
Discharge to 5.4V
Store
(put 10mins of charge in if being left more than 10 days...ish)

Oh, just built me five packs of matched by me, processed by Team Almighty and I got between 4675 and 4725 for all the packs.

Back To Original Question
 

We were raising a family when Paul started R/C, and there wasn't a ton of $$$ lying about. If we had it to do over, the first thing we'd do would be to assess whether this would be a long-term thing or a passing fancy. Always hard to do...

The adage is: Buy the best or buy twice. Or three times if wisdom comes slowly, as it usually does with me.

I'd buy the cheapest used car I could find and two used packs of cells. Maybe an inexpensive tool or two. I'd go to the track and ask people to charge my batteries. I'd borrow tools, etc. for the first club meeting. I know it's a pain, but I'd explain we're trying this out for size, and, at least in the US, we'd get plenty of willing help.

About the third meeting, if it seems the bug is biting, then buy the top stuff. I'm talking power supply, chargers, soldering iron, wrenches, etc. It works right and you only spend the $$ once. Stick with the used car & electronics until skills advance, but spend a $$ to bullet-proof it. It doesn't need to be fast at this point, but it does need to survive the punishment you'll dole out.

Get a good table, "the" light, an EZ-up, decent chairs, large cooler, etc. Racing's no fun when you're uncomfortable.

After a season is the time to upgrade car, electronics, batteries etc. if you're still bitten. Then, again, go all new and top of the line.

Many people buy stuff new and used from others and on the net. As a net retailer, I certainly suggest the net. But, in fact, I highly reccommend establishing a relationship with a good local model shop. Paul and I bought everything from one particular shop and one particular VERY knowledgable employee who steered us right.

From the beginning, we got exactly what we needed -- nothing else. Bill solved our problems and listened to our questions. In a short time we learned to do exactly what Bill said, and nothing else. The cars and equipment worked well, and Paul got faster. We still maintain a great relationship with Bill to this day, even though he now manages a shop 70 miles away. Without Bill, we probably wouldn't be racing today.

how much
 

I notice that jim neglected to mention in his response that as part of recouping some of the cost of racing he lends his mrs out to rc mags to show off cars...a good plan mate!